World cup winner Lionel Messi could have come to India if money was not an obstruction. Argentina played two friendly matches in their trip to Asia this time, playing against Australia in China last week and against Indonesia on Monday. 

Interestingly, the team including Messi expressed willingness to play a friendly also in India. But AIFF (All India Football Federation) rejected the proposal, failing to fulfill Argentina's demand that would have costed nearly Rs 40 crore for the match. 

AIFF secretary Shaji Prabhakaran confirmed the development that AIFF received a request for a friendly from the World Cup champion team. “The Argentina FA reached out to us for a friendly, but it was just not possible to arrange such huge amount," Prabhakaran was quoted. 

The AIFF secretary further revealed, “For such a match to happen here, we need backing of a strong partner. The kind of money that Argentina command is huge and we have limitations in terms of our economic situation in football."

Going by the reports Messi’s side would have demanded a staggering appearance fee of $4-5 million (approx. Rs 32-40 crore) to play one exhibition match. Argentina were reportedly planning to play two friendly matches in June, one in India and another in Bangladesh but none of the nations could come up with the required funds that too on very short notice, therefore, they played against Australia and Indonesia. 

Argentina led by Lionel Messi already played in India, against Venezuela at the Salt Lake Stadium on 2nd September 2011.